CFPB sues Los Angeles law firm

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)—an agency founded under Dodd-Frank to regulate consumer protection—has filed its first ever civil enforcement action in federal court, and the lucky defendant is a Los Angeles law firm.

According to the complaint, The Gordon Law Firm, led by Chance Gordon, promised distressed homeowners that the firm would secure loan modifications for them. After taking payment from the already strapped customers, the firm did “little or nothing” to help them. Instead, the complaint says, the firm “used consumers’ last dollars to fund a lavish lifestyle, including expensive cars, dinners, and nightclubs.

CFPB’s Assistant Director for Enforcement Kent Markus said Gordon and one of his business partners, Abraham Pessar, who also was named in the suit, have “been unlawfully preying on vulnerable homeowners in multiple states.”

While Gordon and Pessar deny any wrongdoing, a federal district judge has frozen their assets and appointed a temporary receiver, per the CFPB’s request.